The University Distinguished Lecture Series annually recognizes two
senior faculty members for their outstanding academic achievement, particularly,
but not exclusively, in research, scholarship, or creative activity.
Each recipient presents a scholarly lecture, open to the university
community and to the public, followed by a reception. The lecturer receives
an award of $5,000 from the Office of academic Affairs to be spent in
support of an academic program or project of her or his choice .

“Barbara Andersen is an individual who is recognized internationally
for her outstanding and pioneering contributions to the field of psychosocial
cancer research,” wrote Francis J. Keefe, professor of psychiatry
and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center. “In
the early 1980s, Barbara was one of the first psychologists to study
how women adjust to gynecologic cancer. ... Overall, her programmatic
research is outstanding and serves as the gold standard against which
others can be compared,” Keefe wrote.

Susan Folkman, professor of medicine and director of the Osher Center
for Integrative Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco,
wrote: “Medical educators are just beginning to respond to the
public demand for more humane medical care. Work such as Professor Andersen’s
is invaluable in these efforts. Just yesterday, the chief of neurosurgery
at UCSF called me to talk about some conversations he and I had each
had with the widower of a cancer patient. This man kept a detailed log
of his wife’s experience during treatment. In reading this log,
the neurosurgeon said that he was shocked at the huge impact his actions
-- which he often deemed trivial -- had on this woman’s psychological
well-being. He wants to draw on research in this area to initiate an
intervention with physicians to increase their sensitivity to the psychological
impact of their practices. Medicine is waking up to the fact that psychological
well-being is not a trivial outcome of cancer treatments. Professor
Andersen’s work will help lead the way to interventions of this
sort for diverse cancer populations.”

The Department of Psychology’s nominators, Timothy Brock, professor
and chair of the awards committee; and Professor and Department Chair
Gifford Weary commended the importance and excellence of Andersen's
research, and her outstanding record of graduate education and service
during her tenure at Ohio State. Andersen received her bachelor’s,
master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the
University of Illinois and joined Ohio State’s faculty in 1989.
Her publications include three books and more than 125 empirical and
scholarly articles. In 2000, she received Ohio State’s Distinguished
Scholar Award.

“This is a wonderful and very unique honor,” Andersen
said. “It is also a tribute to the patients, graduate students,
staff and my oncology and psychology colleagues who have breathed life
into our cancer research. The story of living with cancer is an important
one.”

Jacqueline Jones RoysterProfessorDepartment of EnglishSenior Associate Dean for Research and Faculty AffairsCollege of Humanities

Jacqueline Jones Royster is “nationally known for her ability
to give knock-out, engaging speeches,” wrote nominator Valerie
Lee, chair of the Department of English. Royster has served as the
director of the Conference on College Composition and Communication,
the country’s largest consortium for composition and rhetoric.

She is the author, editor or consultant for five books, about 50
articles and reviews and has delivered more than 60 invited keynote
addresses and lectures. Her book Traces of a Stream: Literacy and
Social Change among African American Women won the prestigious MLA
Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize for Best Book in the Teaching of English.
And her article, “History in the Spaces Left: African American
Presence and Narratives of Composition Studies,” won the Braddock
Award for best article in College Composition and Communication in
2001.

Andrea A. Lunsford, former Ohio State professor of English who is
professor of English and director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric
at Stanford University, wrote: “It is no exaggeration to say
that Jacqueline Jones Royster is one of the most deeply respected
scholars in rhetoric and writing studies today. ... Jackie is at once
very demanding and very encouraging, and her students fairly flower
before this dual gift.

“One of Jackie’s greatest strengths is her ability to
engage others. Let me offer one concrete example: a few years ago,
Jackie was invited to give one of two keynote addresses at the Rhetoric
Society of America conference, which draws a large and diverse group
of scholars from English, classics, communications and philosophy.
The first keynote speaker, arguably the most distinguished scholar
of classical rhetoric in the country, delivered a fine talk, met with
appreciation, loud applause and a lively question and answer session.
‘Hard act to follow,’ I thought to myself, glad that I
was not the second speaker. Jackie took the microphone late in the
second day of the conference; participants were noticeably tired.
Then she started speaking slowly and artfully about ‘Sarah,’
the young African woman aboard the Amistad, and she went on to carry
out the stunning rhetorical analysis of the role literacy played in
this woman’s life. I was sitting near the back of the large
room, and I could feel the energy rise; it felt at times as if an
electric current were running from row to row. At the conclusion of
this speech, Jackie received the only standing ovation I have ever
witnessed in 25 years of attending these meetings, and I dare say
every person in the audience remembers this talk as vividly as I do
today.”

Royster received her bachelor’s degree from Spelman College
and her master’s degree and doctorate in English Language from
the University of Michigan. She joined Ohio State’s faculty
in 1992 as an associate professor and director of the University Writing
Center.

Royster will present her lecture during spring quarter 2004. “I
am deeply honored by the award and pleased to have been selected,”
she said.